AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know. But we’re going to check out Kaitlyn’s story and see if there is any connection to Marta. Thanks for calling us. This is our biggest break in this case and it’s all because you called. So, again, thank you.”
The woman walked him out the door and he heard the lock click into place behind him. Thank goodness she was young and it didn’t appear that she had children. But still, one of the deputies would be watching over this neighborhood for a while.
CHAPTER14
Camila hated lying to the guys about her plans for today, but after speaking to her brother, she had to check out Jim White’s ranch for herself. This morning, she’d spent time at the nearest FAA office and learned there were multiple flights to Mexico with three people leaving and only two returning from Jim White’s ranch.
It had taken everything she had in her to keep from screaming at the clerk that maybe he should have sent this information to the sheriff. Especially with missing kids. Did he ever consider that they were delivering a kid to Mexico?
But that wasn’t his job. His job was to make certain flights took off and arrived at their destination safely. And flights that had not recorded a flight plan were verified and not doing something unlawful like drug smuggling. Not to mention child smuggling.
Jim White seemed to know he would do better to record a flight plan. That way everything appeared legal. Was he the one behind the child abduction? Right now, her gut was telling her he was their bad guy. He was the person behind this scheme that had worked well for many years, but no more.
She parked her car in a nearby rest area about a mile from Jim White’s ranch. The place was huge with well over one hundred acres. With her phone in hand, she’d climbed the fence, praying this wasn’t the pasture where he kept his bull, and then did her best to work her way to the main house and barn area without being seen. There were few trees and sometimes she’d crawled on her belly, praying she didn’t find a rattlesnake in the grass.
When she reached the barn, she could hear men’s voices.
“Zach, get those horses moved to the pasture over by the hay shed. Carlos, you take the forklift and move some hay out of the barn to the calf area.”
“What the hell are you going to do?” a man asked.
There was laughter. “I’m cleaning the muck out of the stalls. Do you want to do it? I’d be more than happy to let you breathe the horseshit.”
“Oh hell no,” the man replied.
They were on foot and she needed to be very careful. On the back wall of the barn, she found a door. When she opened it, she smelled horse manure. Glancing around, she looked for any place that could hide a door. Any place they could hide a child until their next flight.
Since Marta had disappeared, there had not been a flight, but that didn’t mean she was still here. They might have taken her by car. But Camila needed evidence that Jim White was their child abductor.
Slipping through the barn quietly, she noticed the horse tack on the wall. She could hear someone shoveling and figured that must be the man she heard talking. Somehow she needed to sneak past him and out the door. There were other buildings she’d seen and the barn seemed clean.
Quietly she slipped past the man who whistled while he cleaned the horse stall. When she reached the main door she glanced out and then hurried over to the next building. It was a pig barn and the animals started squealing when she opened the door. Quickly, she walked away. Surely they wouldn’t hide a child inside that smelly building.
The next building was filled with tools. Surveying the space, she didn’t see any place that could hide someone.
With a sigh, she was beginning to feel discouraged. Coming back out of the tool shed, she gazed around and saw one last building. It was situated away from the other buildings.
It had to be that one.
Peeking around, she hurried as quickly as she could to the building. There was a big lock on the door. Inside she could hear crying.
“Marta,” she whispered.
There was a moment of silence.
“Yes, it’s me,” the child said. “Who is there?”
“I’m a U.S. Marshal. Give me some time. I’m going to get you out of here,” she said.
“Please hurry,” she cried.
“Hang tight,” Camila said.
She looked around. Damn, she was out in the middle of fucking nowhere with little or no signal on her phone. There was no place to hide except behind the shed.
She needed to get back to the car and then she could use her radio to call for help. Or she could use the button on her phone that would alert the agency that she was in trouble. But right now, she just needed to find help.
With a second gaze behind her, she ran behind the main barn and then she jumped the fence.
